Light Within the Shadows
by Aesahaettr
Summary: HG/DM Romance. Harry's 6th year at Hogwarts. With a great war about to commence and the death of his godfather, Harry must learn how to cope. His best study mate and his worst enemy become more than just friends...r/r s'il vous plait
1. Arrival in the Wizarding World

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot…not that I wouldn't want to. Hehe.

*~.~* Chapter 1:** Arrival in the Wizarding World ***~.~*

Harry sat alone, once again, on his sixteenth birthday, on the second floor of the Dursley house.  He received both letters and gifts from his closest friends, not to mention a birthday sweater from Mrs. Weasley.  Of course he got nothing from the Dursleys, but he hadn't expected anything in the first place.  He was still in mourning from his godfather's death.  He usually received his best presents from Sirius, and during the past couple years, hearing from him was what Harry looked forward to in the long summer nights.  Now he had nothing…not a speck of loving family left.  

Throughout the summer, Harry kept in touch with the Order, just like he promised he would.  Though he was still enraged with Dumbledore and intentionally stayed out of touch with him as much as possible.  There were very few bad run-ins with Dudley this year.  As a matter of fact, whenever Harry's temper went completely out the window, he generally won the fist fights with Dudley.  The Dursleys stopped tormenting him for the most part.  He figured they were scared of the threats they received at the train station last year.  Harry never really had pleasant moments anymore.  He was always filled with a mixture of emotions of sadness and anger.  

He would be going into his sixth year at Hogwarts, which means a break from exams until the next year in which the N.E.W.T.s took place.  To Harry, it seemed like summer lasted an eternity.  Every day seemed like a year, and every night was even worse.  But of course, his birthday marked the summer's near-closing time.  He had not been able to visit Ron or Hermione this summer, under Dumbledore's request.  Although, he was permitted in two days time to go to Diagon Alley to pick up his school supplies.

Hedwig chirped from the cage next to Harry's bed.

"Shh, Hedwig," Harry spoke quietly.  He always spoke in an irritated tone now.  It seemed like whenever anyone spoke to him, he would snap back at them harshly.

Harry leaned back against his pillow and fell into a blissful slumber.  He dreamed of Sirius's return.  Sirius would rescue Harry from the horrible muggle home he was forced to reside in.  They would live at number twelve, Grimmauld Place.  They constantly talked of petty things, and laughed wholeheartedly.  Any happy dream Harry might have, seemed to make Harry's reality even worse.

Harry had this dream quite often.  It was almost as tormenting as the dream he had constantly last year about the Department of Mysteries.  In the same way, he wanted the dream to last forever.  The difference is, though, he _could_ go to the Department of Mysteries and bring his dream into reality, but sadly, his dream about Sirius could never be a reality.  He always woke up ready to murder the next person to walk through his bedroom door.  And he probably would if anyone had actually come to see him.

His last days at Privet Drive felt longer than the whole summer.  Harry was extremely anxious to leave, but he had mixed feelings about seeing his friends again.  He decided he would like to see them, since they are the only people he has left who care about him.  Harry had not thought about quidditch at all since Hogwarts.  Who could blame him?  He had no time to think about leisure activities.  He was far too busy plotting out revenge on the Death Eaters and Lord Voldemort.  He was just remembering the events of last year during the car ride to London, and thinking to himself how thankful he was that Professor Umbridge would be gone at last.  He felt a rush of excitement course through his body, imagining himself soaring through the sky on his beloved Firebolt, though it didn't even come close to drowning out his depression.

Before Harry knew it, he was outside of the Leaky Cauldron once again.

"Good riddance, boy," growled Uncle Vernon.  "Now hurry up and get your trashy things out of my car!  NOW!"

Harry did as he was told, though not out of fear of Uncle Vernon.  He simply wanted to get away.    

A hush ran over the Leaky Cauldron when Harry appeared in the doorway.  The room was silent, and all eyes were upon him.  He took a couple steps in and closed the door behind him.  It was dark compared to the outside sunshine.  Only a few candles lit the room.  Harry stared around, seeing some familiar faces, though he never knew any of them by name.  He was feeling uncomfortable and wanted to shout at all of them to stop staring and let him be.  His gaze fell upon the massive, hunched over wizard in the corner of the pub.  He took a few more steps toward the figure, and Hagrid turned around to meet him.

"HARRY!!!" Hagrid roared from the corner he was still hunched over at.  He didn't look as beat up as the last time Harry had seen his extremely large friend.  He figured Grawp was learning to control himself a bit more.  Hagrid stomped over to Harry and surprised him with a tight embrace.  "Well then, are ya ready ter go, Harry?"

"Of course, Hagrid," Harry replied trying to sound more pleased to see him than he actually was.  He was very eager to go to Diagon Alley, and to be surrounded by familiar people.  With that, they headed through the back door and towards the brick wall.

As soon as they walked through the barrier separating the muggle world with the wizarding one, Harry's heart leapt and he felt better than he had in months.  His new found feeling of a weight being lifted off his chest lasted only for less than a minute.  Harry was soon snapped back into his melancholy state and he felt like his heart had been ripped out once again.

"Hello, Harry!" a familiar voice came from behind him.  It was Ginny Weasley, accompanied by Mrs. Weasley and Harry's best friend, Ron.

"Hey, Ginny…" Harry was utterly amazed at how much Ginny had grown and matured over the summer.  At first Harry turned around and expected to have to look down at Ginny, but when he did so, he seemed to be staring right at her chest.  She was now around 5 feet 8 inches, almost as tall as Harry was himself.  He shook his head and came back down to earth.  "Hello, Mrs. Weasley.  Hey, Ron…" but he was interrupted.

"Oh, _Harry,_ dear!  How _are_ you?!"  Mrs. Weasley sounded genuinely concerned.  He didn't think he looked THAT bad.

"I'm alright," he responded, a little questionable like, as if he wasn't sure himself.

"Me and Harry are gonna go get our things now, Mum.  We'll meet you guys later,"  Ron said and rather hastily grabbing onto Harry's arm and pulling him away.

Harry gave Hagrid and Mrs. Weasley a weak wave goodbye and went off with Ron, who was still tugging at his arm.

A/N: I don't mean to bore you guys to death (and I made it short so it wouldn't be too bad), but bare with me, it's only the first chapter.  :^)


	2. The Rendezvous at Diagon Alley

Disclaimer:  All characters and other emblems related to Harry Potter are owned by JK Rowling herself… btw, this is pretty unnecessary to say but I am not JK Rowling, for all those who…thought I was? LOL

*~.~* Chapter 2:  **The Rendez-vous at Diagon Alley *~.~***

Harry was still being pulled slightly by Ron until they reached their destination, which was Flourish and Blotts, but he could care less.  They met up with Hermione who had just gotten done paying for her books.  There were quite a few new ones this term than last, and most of them were Defense Against the Dark Arts related.

"Harry…how have you been?" she asked quite cautiously.  She didn't want to make a wrong move and get him upset in anyway.

"I'm fine, blimey; don't treat me any different than you would have last year, alright?" Although Harry was far from fine.  He was overwhelmed with pain and suffering, but it seemed that the way everyone was treating him only made it worse.

"So have you gotten your books yet?  I'm really excited for Defense Against the Dark Arts.  I wonder who the new professor is.  Have you two heard anything about it yet?"  Hermione said trying to change the subject and acting as normal as possible.

"I heard Dumbledore couldn't find anyone and Snape is going to teach both Potions _and Defense against the Dark Arts," spoke an eavesdropping Neville Longbottom, who looked rather frightened at his own statement._

"Well Fred told me that Dumbledore himself was going to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts," said Ron.  "But I wouldn't count on it.  Fred has a tendency to make things up to make me look stupid."

"You're both wrong," came a drawling voice from behind them that unmistakingly belonged to Draco Malfoy.  "My father told me that they _had found a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.  Of course it's top secret news and it's not to be revealed until Hogwarts."  Malfoy turned and eyed Hermione suspiciously.  "Hmm…you're looking well, mudblood…unfortunately."  With that, Malfoy turned on his heel and walked away, as a smirk grew on his face._

As he walked out, Draco couldn't help but think there was something different with Granger this year.  He knew she was pretty, and smart, and there was always that fatal attraction he had felt towards her, but this year was different.  It was…more.  -_Get a hold of yourself, man…goddamn mudblood Granger…- He thought to himself.  He finally started to control his thoughts again and went next door to pick out a new broom for the year. _

"Don't let him get to you, Hermione," Ron chimed in after Malfoy was out the door.

"Oh I won't.  Not this year.  I'm not going to put up with his crap this year."

Harry was very quiet, and his friends had taken notice.  Already they were seeing the effects last year's tragedy had on him.  

"Hey Harry, why don't we go sneak a peak at this year's new brooms, mate?"  Ron said thinking of ways to cheer him up a bit.  Harry nodded to Ron, and they headed out.  

They unfortunately ran back into Malfoy as they were examining the new Shockstick F160.

"Where's your girlfriend, Potter?" He sneered.

"Excuse me? Who's that, Malfoy?"

"That filthy mudblood Granger, Potter.  Or is she still seeing that blockhead Krum?"  Draco tried not to look too interested in the subject, though he really was dying to know if she was available.  Maybe not available to him, but still, available is good.

"Malfoy…Hermione's like my sister.  That means I'm like her brother, and if you do _anything_ to her this term, I'll kick your ass all the way to Egypt."  That was the most Harry had spoken since he got to Diagon Alley.

"…Yeah…so clear off!"  Ron said after a pause.  He was a little surprised, but excitement took over at the chance to tell Malfoy off.

"I wouldn't get within 500 feet of that mudblood on my own freewill," Draco replied and walked out of the shop.

"We sure told him off, eh Harry?!?" Ron said excitedly.

"Yeah…sure," Harry replied weakly. "He's up to something, Ron.  I just don't know what it is yet."

Meanwhile, Hermione was chatting happily to Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown.

"Well Seamus and I have been seeing eachother since the beginning of the summer.  Who new both of our families had booked the same tour of the lost city of Atlantis? The place is quite charming," explained Lavender.

"Personally, I think a Mr. Draco Malfoy is the catch of our year.  But he's so damn hard to get," said Parvati.

"You know he would only date another Slytherin.  But I doubt anyone at _Hogwarts_ is good enough for _him_," Hermione stated sarcastically.

"Well, if you don't think he's gorgeous, I don't know who you think is," Parvati said as she put her hands on her hips and scowled.

"Fine…I don't deny the fact that he's drop dead sexy and smart, but he has the personality of a mop." Hermione said, giving into the girl-talk.  Parvati and Lavender had a sudden uncontrollable case of the giggles from that statement.  Hermione gave them an "are-you-completely-crazy?" look and stalked off to find the rest of her trio.

She finally caught up with Ron and Harry and they made their way to the King's Cross Station.

*-;-*  ~*~*~*~  *-;-*

The Golden Trio found themselves a private compartment within the Hogwarts express, and before they knew it they were on their way.  Ron and Hermione were both prefects once again this term.  They attended the prefects meeting about half way through the train ride to Hogwarts.  Harry sat alone in the compartment and was completely lost in thought.  He bought a few Chocolate Frogs and a box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans from the trolley lady passing by, but that was the only time throughout the good forty-five minutes he was alone that he was actually aware of his surroundings.  It was a fairly nice day out; partly cloudy, highs around 75 degrees Fahrenheit, and a slight chance of a drizzle in the evening hours.  Anyone who came into the compartment would have thought Harry was simply examining the weather.  He was staring out the large window on the left side of the compartment and occasionally placing a handful of jelly beans in his mouth.

"What's with you, Potter? Girlfriend left you for Weasel already, did she?" sneered Malfoy.  Apparently he had left the meeting before the others because Hermione and Ron both weren't back yet.

"Shove it up your ass, Malfoy." Harry turned from the window slowly to look Malfoy in the eyes. "And I told you…Hermione is NOT my girlfriend." Harry gave Malfoy a death glare and turned back to his window.

Malfoy just stood there for a second or two, contemplating what to say next.  Instead, he just let out a small snort, signaling he didn't care and stomped obnoxiously out of the compartment.  He gave Hermione and Ron a little bump on the shoulder as he stormed by them while they headed toward the compartment door.

"Was Malfoy in here giving you more grief, Harry?" asked Hermione as she sat across from him and Ron.  She immediately extracted a book from her suitcase titled _Wonderful Ways__ to Wart Off Werewolves.  It was unmistakingly one of the new Defense Against the Dark Arts required reading books. _

"Nah, it's fine.." Harry said, not wanting to bring up more stuff to talk about.  He went back to staring out his window once again.  He could only slightly hear Ron and Hermione talk about the new material they'd be learning in Defense Against the Dark Arts because he was so absorbed in his thoughts.  He didn't take anything they were saying in, it was just a jumble of words being spoken some distance off, even though they were sitting right beside him.  
  


Harry must have dozed off, for it seemed like all he did was simply blink and he was being shaken gently awake by Hermione.

"Harry…Harry…You need to change into your robes, Harry.  We're almost here," Hermione spoke in a soothing tone that only made him want to fall back asleep.  But he did as he was told and changed into his robes.

**A/N :** Sorry it took SOOO long to update.. every time I had time to do it, ff.n wouldn't let me.. but no worries now !  Chapter 3 coming soon! Jippie !


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